I Hope He Knew

I got a call from RayRay last night informing me that one of my high school teachers died. It's kind of weird that I'd find this out one year to the day after writing about the passing of another favorite teacher.

Gil Lettow was my band teacher for four years, and I happened to be in school at the same time as his three kids. They were all overachievers and I consistently wondered how they did it. After graduating high school and looking back on things through older eyes, I realized that they excelled because of Gil's guidance... a guidance also present in his teachings.

Mr. Lettow was a teacher who always pushed you exactly one step further. Those who were ready excelled in areas far beyond music thanks to his tutelage, but he also realized that each kid was unique and not all were ready to be pushed. In their cases, he patiently awaited an opening, knowing that not all children were susceptible to his particular teaching method.

Gil was admired, liked and respected... not just by his students, but universally. There were always kids in the band area, many of whom were not music students. Mr. Lettow knew and liked even the non-band kids.

It's impossible to stick with a teacher for four years if you don't like them. It's equally impossible to have someone involved in your life for that long and not drop in from time to time. For several years, I made a point of dropping by the school to say hi to Gil, and listen to the latest crop of budding musicians. One day though, I dropped by and he was gone.

I never thought it would happen, and to this day I don't know why, but Mr. Lettow left Mason City. He was wildly popular, and well-respected throughout the state, but for some reason he packed up and moved to Texas. I made a couple of quick internet searches for him, but all of the hits pointed him back to Mason City.

It seems that he somehow knew that he was supposed to return to Mason City; earlier this year, Mr. Lettow retired from teaching, moved back to Mason City and became administrator of Music Man Square, a fitting final chapter for the life of a man who lived and breathed the life of a bandmaster in the real River City.

I never had the opportunity to say goodbye to Mr. Lettow. I never thought he'd move, so I never thought "Gee, this time might be the last time I see him." But I hope that my actions spoke in place of my words. I pray that my occasional visits showed him how much of an impact he made on my life. Of this though, there can be no doubt -- Gil Lettow was an incredible human being, and I know that I'm not the only one who will miss him.